In a
surprising move, terrorist organizations such as Fatah, Hamas, all the
factions, the president and the Prime Ministor all are condeming the
abduction of BBC journalist Alan Johnston. Johnston, a sympathetic
correspondent who has been covering the situation in the Gaza Strip for
some years now, was abducted March 12th. His abductors, the Army of
Islam, are being denounced pretty much universally by other violent
Islamic factions. Why? You
can read all about this at

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6714417.stm

Lets start with the fact that I am a Christian. As a Christian, I
am aware that there are as many opinion on how it should be observed
(known as denominations) as there are differences among Republicans,
Democrats, Independents, Libertarians, and others. So why am I against
prayer in school, pro-choice, and concerned that our President claims
to speak with God? Because these are the hallmarks of a theocracy, and
theocracy means that someone's religion is going to have sway on law,
and therefor how YOU live your life regardless of what you believe.
Didn't we go through this about 200 years ago? It's just frightening to
me. It's like the dark ages when the Muslims and Christians were
fighting an all out war. Be warned, atheists may one day rise up and
"put an end to all this killing in the name of a superstition."

Government's
role is to protect us from outside invasion, and protect me from you.
That's it. Everything else is an "added function" that we could debate
for hours. But when it comes to how law is made, nothing is more
dangerous than laws based on somebody's spiritual beliefs. Freedom from
religion is just as important as freedom of religion. If you are
against abortion because you believe a zygote is a true human life that
is sacred, then be warned: that word "sacred" has no place in the laws
which govern the behavior of those that don't believe the way you do.

The
Lord our God values, above all else, free will. If you impose a law on
people (make no mistake, all laws are an imposition of will) that is
based on YOUR  belief and interperation (otherwise known as an opinion)
then you, as a Christian, are saying that you know better than God
what's good for humanity. Free will is a pillar on which the almighty
created us. Now if you believe abortion is a bad idea for non-religious
reasons, then I'm willing to listen. Otherwise, don't raise your
daughters to be promiscuous, and don't raise your sons to be careless
idiots incapable of controlling their sex drives. But most of all,
don't bring God to the government table. It has no place.

Tradition
is not a valid reason either. The logic does not follow. Consider, "We
are One Nation Under God, therefor God is central to our belief system,
and central to the laws of the land."  The assertion is the ultimate
hubris, and quite frankly, I find it offensive at many levels. We are
most certainly not One Nation Under God. We are a
culturally diverse nation founded on the principles of freedom. This
freedom means that there are athiest, muslims, hindus, christians,
jews, the list goes on. So the statement is illogical. Laws should not
be founded on any premise that is illogical.

Before you go
reading the 10 commandments to me and saying, "Well, the bible says
thou shalt not kill. Are you saying killing is OK?" Understand that I
find it again very arrogant to assume that only Christians value such
concepts as NOT killing someone...yet they have been VERY good at it
for thousands of years. Think about how many wars have been fought in
the name of a God. Now think about how many have been fought in the
name of atheism. Sound ridiculous? Keep bombarding this planet with
Christian absolutes, or Muslim absolutes, and one day those that don't
believe may well have had enough of us. There are a LOT more of them
than us, and they view us as dangerous, deluded, and a real and present
danger. We are not helping in this regard when we mix religion with
government in even the smallest way.

Who do you think values
life more...an athiest or a Christian? Think carefully. The Christian
believes this life is transitory, and in many cases can't wait to get
to heaven. But the atheist believes that this is it. Every moment spent
alive is therefor extremely precious (well, obviously not all atheists
are the same, but you get the idea). Imagine their horror and confusion
(or in some cases confirmation of their suspicion that all religion is
inherently evil and destructive),  when people who claim to be
religious (like our President) claim to be doing something that
involves killing people, all in the name of God. For me, its enough to
kill people that would harm me or my country. Not need to bring God
into it. Otherwise, you're going to have to stick like glue to the 10
commandments "thou shalt not kill."  and the Golden Rule, "Love your
enemies..." If you are someone that takes the Bible literally, then you
have no choice and no business supporting war...which in my opinion is
a mistake. War is necessary for the defense of country, or in some
cases the expansion of its interests. Again, no need to bring God into
it. Otherwise, Christians will confuse people by blurring the line
between what is divine, and what is simply our own human nature. That
is a major mistake. You will never win someone over to Christianity
that way. Believe me, I know. I used to be an atheist that prided
himself on "talking Christians down from the cross." I know how SOME of
them think, and I know why (for the most part).

 I
was handed a DVD entitled "The Secret" recently. This is not a good
road for anyone interested in a spiritual awakening to follow. To learn
all about it, go to

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_(2006_film)

Why

is it bad? Two reasons. Lets start with the premise, "The Law of
Attraction". It claims that there is a law of the universe, identical
in impact to Newtonian or Einstien principles, in which human thought
can impact the course of cause and effect in a very tangible, specific
way. Red Flag. The comparison is invalid. To tout something as a
scientific fact with metaphysical assumptions is not science, it is
simply assumption backed up metaphysical opinion. Nothing metaphysical
has ever been "proven" using the scientific method. It is deceptive to
claim with certain something has real and tangible, or at least
measurable, effects on the space time continuum but lack the scientific
data to prove it. Absolutely unacceptable.

I have a
suspicion.
It is unproven, so perhaps someone could help me track down some facts:
Is this thing making someone a lot of money? If it is, they are
spiritually defrauding people. Why? Because again, this is not
science...but it CLAIMS it is.

Bottom line: You can
twist
perception...reality won't budge. Reality, in the form we actually
experience it, is not an Orwellian 1984 "If you think I float, and I
think I float, then it happens." Reality is that which can be
accurately confirmed by a third party. If two people think they are
floating, and a third simply sees them still sitting on the ground,
given what we now about gravity and the energy required to defy it, who
do you think has lost their mind in this
situation?

Lets put
this in simpler terms: Charging crystals by moonlight. Many
metaphysical believers (not the same as New Agers...that's a debasing
term and I believe respect is important, especially when disagreeing
with someone over something as important as spirituality) insist that
crystals contain energy of different forms. They call them "energies".
However, measuring this energy scientifically has thus far proven
impossible. Though we can detect the some of the faintest energy
signatures in the universe, including massless particles such as
neutrinos, it is not possible to measure the energy a metaphysical
believer claims has such a significant impact on events in their own
lives. An example of this belief is the practice of recharging crystals
by moonlight, and the various ways in which this energy can be used
once charging is completed.

The next problem with
The Secret
lies in something that seems to underly all metaphysical thinking: If
your life is not going the way you want it to, it's because you are not
doing something right. For instance, if you get cancer it is because
you are angry. Various maladies are assigned to different chronic
emotional states that have a direct correlation (in their belief
system) to whatever ails you. Bottom line, if you're sick, it's your
fault. By the same token, The Secret implies that if you are not using
The Law of Attraction, then you are to blame as to why good things are
not happening in your life. Where is the scientific evidence, double
blind study, that this is so? What about the 13 year old virgin in
Africa who is raped repeatedly by men who believe they can cure AIDS if
they have sex with a virgin? Is this her fault? The logic of The
Secret, when put into a linear application, clearly states this is so.
Lets break it down logically. A=B, where A is "Only The Law of
Attraction helps you" and B is "You must use it to get what you want."
For this to be true, the reverse must also be true. "Not using the Law
of Attraction will harm you" and B is "You will not get what you want
without it." It is illogical to say A=B but B <>A. The
problem
occurs through a clash of free will, a problem which The Secret is even
more susceptible to than Christianity's question of Original Sin.

Free
will implies an independent governing consciousness making decisions
based not solely on instinct, but to a large degree on rational thought
processes. You can quickly see that free will is in fact not something
everyone possesses. The mentally ill, those who are in a coma, and most
animals cannot experience free will under this definition. If two
individuals who posses free will wish for two opposing realities under
the model of The Secret, and these opposing wishes are impossible to
resolve, who wins? Apparently, the 13 year old African girl is out of
luck.

A more rational explanation, even if you're a
Christian
or Muslim, or any sort of believer in a monthiestic god, or even an
Atheist, is that free will simply is. Those that possess it cannot be
manipulated because that would imply that no free will exists. Either
free will exists, or it does not. The minute your mere thoughts (not
your actions) are able to determine a course of action I will take,
then my free will has been removed, and this is of course a fundamental
violation of my person. To call such a belief system "spiritual" in any
fashion does not fit with a healthy way of behaving toward others.

Ignorance
of the law is no excuse for breaking it. Ever heard of this? Well, in
science, a law cannot be broken, no matter how little you may know of
it. It simply is. A scientific law describes a fundamental underpinning
of why our physical universe operates in a specific manner according to
painstaking observations and tests. According to The Secret however,
the Law of Attraction is exempt from this. This begs the question, do
those who don't know about The Secret experience The Law of Attraction
anyway? According to modern scientific thinking, they would have to.
Because The Secret posits a scientific principle of the universe, it
owes its followers proof in the form of a law that operates independent
of human perception. Otherwise, it simply a hypothesis (it does not
rise to the level of theory, and it does not fit the definition of a
scientific law).

Finally, lets take a non-secular,
Christian
look at The Secret. I will lose some readers at this point, but I hope
those who roll their eyes at Christianity or any other form of religion
will at the very least see something concrete and rational in what we
believe. The Bible (that's our book, and it's no secret) is clear that
spiritual enlightenment is no secret, and is not hidden from men (or
women). While Christianity seeks to teach us that to be first we must
be last, The Secret squarely puts individual interests first through a
"force of will" approach...which is someone using "The Law of
Attraction" to impose their will on the universe or on someone else in
order to get what they want. This is diametrically opposed to Christian
teachings. It also leaves no room at all for God. Leaving no room for
God is the job of science, which as a Christian I am in fact very
comfortable with. The Secret, I propose here, is not science. I'm also
not convinced it is spiritual. It is simply a dangerous deception and I
hope if you are a believer in The Secret you will reconsider. Don't
take my word for it, but ask yourself if my argument makes
sense.

-All the best, and a healthy spiritual life
to you and me...with all the free will that
requires.
Michael

  

Where are you going now? Hoping you have an answer for that after your graduate from school. Hoping your answer is going to give you a way to become a citizen that contributes to the bottom line and to the common good of wherever you live and whomever you meet. If nobody has given you direction, figure out how to get a compass and do it fast. Don't wait another day. It's never too late to fail, and never too soon to succeed.

Graduation is something that, hopefully, you will continue to do throughout life. Graduating from a school is just the start. Perhaps graduating from school is not what graduation means to you. If you're like most of us who are finding our way through life, you might be graduating to / from:

Adult hood
A drug free life
A gang free life
A new sense of worth
A new level of awareness
A new level of spirituality
A trade school or a technical course
A parenting course
A black belt from a green belt
Management
parent hood

What are you graduating to or from? Will you be alone in this or will others be there to help you celebrate? Are these the same people that surrounded you the last time you had something worth celebrating? To whom do you turn to celebrate the small things that make up the biggest moments in our future memories?